2025 Ending Poverty and Homelessness
May 23, 2025
Carlton Union Building (CUB) - Room 230, Stetson Room
Thank you for your support of the EPHC and your commitment to advancing human rights, equity, inclusion, and educational excellence!
We look forward to seeing you soon!
Rajni Shankar-Brown, PhD
Stetson University Professor and JBD Chair of Social Justice Education
Education & Equity Chair and Past-President of the National Coalition for the Homeless
Founder and Executive Director, Institute for Catalyzing Equity, Justice, and Social Change
EPHC Keynote Speaker
Nowhere to Go: How Homelessness Fuels Human Trafficking
Tomas Lares has over 34 years of human services experience at the local, state, and national level, managing and starting non-profits and public advocacy initiatives. Lares is a 2014 graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Citizen’s Academy, and that year was nominated as a finalist for the Orlando Sentinel, Central Floridian of the Year Award.’ In 2020 Lares was honored by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody as the ‘Community Advocate of the Year’ for the state of Florida during the Attorney General’s Annual Summit On Human Trafficking.
In 2022 Lares was appointed by the Florida Statewide Human Trafficking Council’s Services & Resource Committee to Co-Chair the Housing Standards Working Group simultaneously SB 1690 was passed, the working group was written into the statue, and Florida became the first state in the U.S. to mandate safe home standards and certification for adult survivors of human trafficking. He has over 34 years of human services experience at the local, state, and national level, managing and starting non-profits and public advocacy initiatives. Lares is a 2014 graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Citizen’s Academy, and that year was nominated as a finalist for the Orlando Sentinel, Central Floridian of the Year Award.’ In 2020 Lares was honored by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody as the ‘Community Advocate of the Year’ for the state of Florida during the Attorney General’s Annual Summit On Human Trafficking. In 2022 Lares was appointed by the Florida Statewide Human Trafficking Council’s Services & Resource Committee to Co-Chair the Housing Standards Working Group simultaneously SB 1690 was passed, the working group was written into the statue, and Florida became the first state in the U.S. to mandate safe home standards and certification for adult survivors of human trafficking.